Anibal dos Santos

Who is Anibal dos Santos?

Aníbal António "Anibalzinho" dos Santos Júnior is a Portuguese criminal convicted of masterminding the November 22, 2000, murder of Carlos Cardoso, a journalist investigating bank fraud in Mozambique's Central Bank. After a first trial in absentia in 2003, one failed and two successful escapes and two extraditions, dos Santos was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment in January 2006. Dos Santos maintained his innocence throughout the trial. As of April, 2008, dos Santos remained in Mozambican custody and was investigated in another murder case, that of BCM lawyer Albano Silva.

December 7, 2008, dos Santos escaped from a maximum security Maputo jail for a third time. On the next day, the news media reported that dos Santos was arrested 36 hours after escape, but on December 10 a police spokesperson denied these reports, saying that dos Santos was still at large. After eight months at large, in August 2009 dos Santos was recaptured in South Africa.